2 Short Assignments due tonight by 12pm Central

Assignment 2

Read a selection of your colleagues’ postings. (2 Collegues post are posted below)

Respond to two or more colleagues’ posts in one or more of the following ways:

· Identify a specific prevention strategy the manager could have used in the situation described that might have helped prevent the drama from occurring;

· Suggest a strategy your colleague did not mention that you believe might be effective in handling similar situations in the future; and/or

· Discuss how a strategy your colleague mentioned might also be of benefit in the situation you described in your initial post.

1st Collegue post to respond to

“Workplace drama is so unpleasant for most of us that it can be baffling to figure out why anyone would want to stir it up” (Hills, 2017). People who love drama are always gossiping. It does not matter where they are, they will find something to gossip about. This is how drama occur in a workplace. “Workplace drama is any human obstacle to your medical practice's peace and prosperity. The obstacle can be the voice in your head, the employee causing you grief, or the economic situation that has everyone in a state of panic about job security. (Hills, 2017). In my workplace, I’ve experience drama amongst two employees that were new on board. In this situation it made the work environment uncomfortable, because we all had to work together on many projects. The drama started amongst themselves because they had mutual friends who didn’t get along. They felt threatened by the others friend, which caused them to become defensive towards each other. The drama then escalated to the workplace. It was an unpleasant place to work because at times we could not have a group meeting successfully because they always argued. My supervisor was aware of the drama and explained that the drama had to be solved or they would be terminated. In my opinion, it was not solved because behind the supervisor’s back, the drama still went on. Her decision to not enforce rules was not effective because it made everyone else at work miserable. The drama could have been solved by a meeting amongst the two employees. To avoid any conflicts, I stayed to myself and got along with everybody. To avoid any drama in a workplace, you simply must work under the assumption that your co-workers and managers are there to help you, support you, and challenge you to produce even better work. As a manager, I would be fair to everyone and have a no drama approach. I would also make everyone sign a contract consenting to their word, that there will be no drama in the workplace. If drama is occurred, everyone shall be terminated. I would also treat every employee how I would want to be treated. If you treat all employee the same, everyone should be comfortable in their workplace and get along. It is important to create a positive work environment to avoid any drama as well. I would also have an open-door policy where everyone can feel free to communicate with me about any concerns they may have. It is always good to communicate with your employees to make sure everyone is on the same page.

References

Hills, L. D. (2017). Ten ways to reduce workplace drama. The Journal of Medical Practice Management: MPM,, 19-23. .

2nd Collegue to respond to

Background

An older employee who had been with the company for a long time was known to be a bit wacky. Her primary responsibility was to write. Her writing was notoriously fraught with text boxes explaining why she chose a citation or two. Previous responsibilities to meet with clients had been minimized because of the crazy things she would say to the customer. I was brought in as department head to elevate the writing and depth of the scientific writers, expedite processes, and be client facing.

Situation

The writer, let’s call her “Lynne”, was angry that someone was newly hired that she had never met and that she had to report to and made no apologies to voicing it to me. She complained that she was no longer given opportunities to interface with the client and that she would comply with the direction she had been given earlier and often by the company VP about writing more consistently without the need for endless revisions, and to stay fairly quiet at a client meeting, instead deferring to the account manager to lead and guide the conversation.

After much coaching, Lynne was given an opportunity to attend a client meeting. She largely remained quiet and asked appropriate questions as needed. While she always dressed well and conservatively in the office it seemed that when she went on the client meetings, she dressed provocatively – wearing extreme high heels, short dresses, much makeup, and very low necklines. Evidently, she had a crush on the married client. Outfits were more aligned to evenings out than to professional meetings. The client had mentioned this to the VP and reported the client team was uncomfortable.

Lynne was spoken to about her attire and responded she would comply with a more demure presentation.

On the day of a client meeting, Lynne came to the office again wearing a blouse that showed major cleavage. The office was a buzz with eye rolls, whispers, and laughs. It was my position to speak to her to say her attire was not acceptable by any means and that unless she modified her look she could not attend. Lynne apologized and safety- pinned her blouse closed. She left to the meeting with the account manager in separate cars.

As it turned out, she attended the meeting without the safety pin and cleavage displayed for all to see.

Once this was reported to me, I had to take action. Again I spoke to Lynne and let her know she could no longer attend client facing meetings and that because of scenarios like this and combined with her sloppy writing she would be put on a performance improvement plan (PIP).

Ultimately, Lynne’s writing improved after much coaching.  And given the critical nature/timeline dictated in the PIP she dialed the drama down and stayed professionally dressed and behaved at subsequent client meetings that took place in larger venues with many other individuals.

This was a difficult and uncomfortable situation. How could this have been handled differently?

· Management knew about this behavior and had not handled it previously, instead, thrusting it on me as the new manager.

· Lynne was angry but instead of coming to me as her manager to voice what she wanted in her career she partook in passive aggressive behaviors that frustrated everyone she worked with. This resulted in a diminution of respect for her and made her an object of ridicule.

· A copy of the company handbook with dress code could have been presented, however, this small company did not have one. Nor did it have a legitimate HR team.

· I changed tactics and spent a great deal of time talking to Lynne and find out what she wanted to do in her position with the company. I made myself available to help coach Lynne on her writing, showing her how she could elevate her own status by modeling behaviors that would elicit respect. I let her know that our coaching was ‘safe’, and that I wanted her to improve by showing examples that her writing could be better by not showing multiple drafts and owning her work.

· As her behavior and work improved, her colleagues were cautiously optimistic, but fearful that without strong arming, Lynne would revert to her old behaviors.

What I would do in the future?

· Better understand the company culture and why this employee was permitted to continue acting out.

· Try to get to meet with staff I would be supervising during the interview process. I have found that when I have been hired to elevate the quality of the team, they are often taken unaware and are resentful. While I did spend significant time with Lynne when I first came on board, it is clear she didn’t trust my motives. I commended her on her breadth of knowledge but explained she did not have to show the lengthy thought processes behind each decision. I asked her to think like the client would so that the story would be clear and concise. Over time, this method seemed to work and when I left the company she thanked me and told me she had learned a lot from my coaching.

· In the article by Martin (2011), distinctions are made regarding authority and leadership. At first, Lynne fought my authority, but until I took steps to coach her on specifics, like a child, did this leadership style resonate. She saw that as a leader I was willing to listen and spend time with her above and beyond that which should be given, in order for her to succeed. By spending time and learning what interests motivated her beyond work and sharing my own life examples, did these influence her to want to perform better.

· As in the article, Stop Workplace Drama (2011), it was important for me to help Lynne become more self aware and try to understand why she acted out in the way she did. By painful example I tried to show her how she was sabotaging herself and what she might consider for others to give her more credit and better value to the organization in the long run.

References

Martin, X. (2011). Toward a new conceptual model of management and leadership competencies and their impact on organizations’ performance. In Proceedings of The 7th European Conference on Management, Leadership, and Governance (pp. 270–276). Reading, United Kingdom: Academic Conferences and Publishing.

Stop workplace drama: No more complaints, excuses and regrets. (2011). Public Relations Tactics, 18(5), 10.